this is yasser arafat square in ramallah. ♪ their president mahmoud abbas live. the vote is scheduled to be happening two and a half hours from now. this is something that israel and the u.s. have spent months lobbying against. i want to bring in jim clancy to put this in perspective here from cnn international. jim, first of all, what does this mean in very plain terms, for the palestinians if they get this upgraded status at the u.n., the significance? >> somebody calls them a state. they are allowed to join international organizations. they're even allowed to join the international criminal court. now, this is what worries israel and the united states because in doing so, they could file complaints with the court about the occupation, how palestinians are being treated. right now they have no such recourse. this is what could trigger a backlash by the u.s. and israel, who are downplaying it now saying that it's really meaningless, it doesn't have much meaning, and in a sense they're right, but for the palestinians, as can you see there in ramallah, it has incr